Study Break Read online

  “I can’t reach,” I said lamely, grabbing my book and backing away, feeling self-conscious. Surely, he wasn’t checking me out. Then again, if trolls like my roommate could get decent looking guys to bone her in our room, then maybe he did think I was cute. Or at least, my butt was.

  Chapter Two

  Darren finished putting the books back on the shelves, and together we strode towards the stairwell. We passed it on our way towards the study rooms on the other side of the floor. At the very end, one door was unlocked and hanging ajar. As we approached, I could hear Dex, Cody, and an unfamiliar voice talking.

  “You brought Jamie Houston with you?” I heard the unfamiliar male voice ask. “Damn, how do you know her? She’s fucking hot as hell.”

  “We live in the same dorm,” Cody replied.

  “Is hotness all you think about?” Dex chastised the unknown man.

  Leave it to Dex to be the voice of reason, I thought. That is, until he continued.

  “Yea, her legs are attractive and I don’t think I’ll mind when it starts heating up and she starts wearing less clothes, but have you seen that girl in front of a classroom? She dominates presentations.”

  “You sound like you want her to dominate you, Dex,” the unfamiliar voice teased.

  There was a muffled snort before Dex responded. “I don’t let women dominate me,” he said.

  “So, you like to dominate them?”

  “Always.”

  I froze in front of the doorway, mouth gaping as Darren chuckled behind me. Three pairs of eyes turned my way—honey brown, icy blue, and molten chocolate. Darren pushed against my shoulder and I stumbled into the study room, dropping my book on the end of the long table.

  “Hey, Jamie,” Dex said as if they hadn’t just been talking about…well...me and um…sex. Did he really think I was confident in a classroom? I always thought I sounded like a babbling, confused, idiot.

  “Erm…uh…hi, Dex.” I stuttered out a greeting, embarrassed to have intruded on their guy talk.

  “Hey, Jamie, I have your bag over here,” Cody called from the other side of the table.

  “Oh, thanks.” I moved to squeeze by him and the wall, and ended up in the seat between him and the unfamiliar guy with the chocolate eyes. I took a second to examine him, wondering why he seemed so familiar.

  Highlighted, blond locks hovered over his forehead and curled at the nape of his neck. Dark eyes above high cheekbones and a square, angular face drew my gaze down to his lush, full lips.

  Holy damn…are guys supposed to have lips like that?

  “You guys mind if I join you?” Darren asked, stepping in and closing the door behind him. “No one else will probably come in and I’m bored as hell down there by myself.”

  Across the table, Dex shrugged and Cody motioned for him to take a seat across from us. I reached into my messenger bag and withdrew my laptop and text book. The bag that Cody brought was propped up on the table, gaping open with the contents strewn about. I caught sight of a red bag of Twizzlers.

  “Cody,” I said quietly, trying not to draw attention to myself. The guy on my other side didn’t say anything, but I noted the way he tilted his head when I moved. “Can I have some of your Twizzlers?”

  Cody shrugged and motioned for me to grab whatever I wanted from the bag. Unable to resist, I reached for the bag of deliciousness only to have it snatched out from beneath my groping fingers. I turned betrayed eyes on the stranger and narrowed my gaze. Casual as you please, the bastard opened the bag and plucked one out before sticking it between his lips.

  “Taylor,” Darren chuckled, “give the girl her Twizzlers.”

  “Donovan Taylor?” I asked with a gasp, recognizing him finally. “You’re Donovan Taylor?”

  He grinned before passing over the bag. “The one and only, Baby.”

  “What are you still doing on campus? I thought all football players had to finish their exams early because of—” I wracked my brain. I could have sworn that football players had a game or something like that during finals week. Where had I heard that before? They all had to stay after because…Shit, I probably looked like a complete and utter doofus, just sitting there staring at Winthrope University’s star quarterback.

  Taylor smirked at me. “Not a big football fan, are you?” he asked.

  “I’ve been studying a lot,” I admitted with a grimacing smile. At least he didn’t seem offended.

  He shook his head. “No biggie. Most girls don’t care about it either way. The game they had us stay behind for was canceled because of the snow storm. I’m from California, and flights aren’t being scheduled because of the storm either.”

  “No one can fly or play football, but I still have to work,” Darren grumbled from across the room as he took a notebook and began doodling.

  “What about your parents?” I asked. “Christmas?”

  “It’s easier to just Skype with my parents on Christmas. They send me shit through the mail all the time anyway.”

  “Man, why didn’t you say anything?” Cody spoke up. “You know you can come home with me. My mom would love to have another mouth to feed. That woman cooks enough for a freaking herd anyway. Maybe this year we won’t have a month’s worth of leftovers.”

  Laughing, Taylor was drawn into conversation with Cody and Dex and Darren. I watched the four of them and somehow, felt really lucky that I was stuck on campus just a little longer than everyone else. Even if we never spoke again after this, at least I get to stare at the four of them a little longer.

  Cody leaned back in his chair, having shed his winter coat. The muscles that he had developed from playing football were apparent even beneath his long sleeve sweater. I tapped the end of my pen against the corner of my textbook, feeling self-conscious. That didn’t stop my eyes from trailing back to Taylor. Slouched over in his seat, Taylor flicked a finger up and down on his tablet playing some sort of pinball game. His hair was longer than the rest of the guys’, nearly reaching his shoulders. I could tell he was from California from his surfer-boy, good looks. Dark brown eyes, tanned skin—obviously a natural color since it was freaking winter—and golden hair interrupted by a streak of brown here and there. In a flash, I pictured myself grabbing onto his hair as he dove his mouth between my legs.

  Suddenly the screen on his tablet went blank, and a confused V formed between his eyebrows. To no avail, he attempted to turn the device back on before realizing it was dead. I should have known to look away, but I didn’t guess that he would look my way until those dangerously dark eyes of his were on mine. He set the tablet to the side and scooted closer. My eyes widened and I jerked my gaze away, back to my text book. Within seconds, I could practically feel the heat of his breath on my bare neck as the winter snowstorm raged outside.

  “What are you reading?” he asked.

  I sighed when Dex answered. “She’s probably looking over Hawthorne’s YGB. We have an exam tomorrow.”

  “I was asking her, Dex.” A strong finger tilted my jaw up and my heart almost stopped. “Now, Gorgeous, what are you reading?”

  “Um…he’s right, I’m reading YGB by Nathaniel Hawthorne.”

  Cody leaned forward, setting his phone to the side. “What’s YGB?”

  “It’s a short story called Young Goodman Brown,” I replied, subtly pulling my chin away from Taylor’s hot finger. “It’s kind of a long title, so after a few classes pretty much everyone refers to it as YGB now.”

  “What’s it about?” Darren asked, swaying from side to side in his chair across the table.

  “Well it’s—” I squeaked to a stop as the lights went out and the room was plunged into darkness.

  Taylor cursed and something bumped into my side, making me squeak again. “Sorry, Jamie.”

  “I – it’s fine,” I said.

  Even as I assured him, my heart began to pound and my head began to throb. I peeled my eyes as wide as I could, but the only light in the room came from a window on the far wall. What little li
ght filtered through was muted by the closed blinds. I hated the dark and ached to reach out and find someone. Almost as soon as I thought it, a strong, long-fingered hand found my arm and dropped down to my wrist. I turned my head in that direction as a warm puff of air landed on my cheek.

  “Are you okay?” Cody whispered.

  How could he tell I was afraid? He couldn’t see me.

  “Dammit,” someone said. “I think the breaker went out.”

  “I–I’ll be fine,” I whispered back, but didn’t release his hand, and he didn’t let go of mine.

  “The school should have backup generators –” Darren replied, cutting off to curse as he moved and kicked the table. The entire thing rocked into Cody and me, and I stumbled into his arms. Cody released my hand and simply drew me into his chest, backing the both of us up until we were against the wall.

  “Jesus, watch out!” he snapped at the guys.

  “I’m gonna see if I can get back downstairs to the first floor. There are some flashlights behind the desk,” Darren said.

  “S-should you go alone?” I asked. I had watched too many horror flicks—usually in the relative safety of my dorm room—to really feel comfortable with him going alone.

  “I’ll go with him, Jamie, no worries.”

  As relieved as I felt by Taylor’s offer, listening to them muddle about in the room trying to reach the door without bumping into anything was worrying as well. How the hell were they going to get down the stairs? When they managed to reach the door, I heard the latch click and shift as the knob was turned and they felt their way out of the room.

  “We’ll be right back,” Taylor called.

  “We’ll be here.” I nearly jumped out of my skin when Dex responded so close to me. I hadn’t realized that he had been moving in my direction. I felt a rush of air as he felt around.

  “Here, Dex,” Cody pushed me forward, and Dex stopped feeling around blindly when he touched me. “I’m going to open the blinds and get at least a little light in the room.”

  Dex’s hands slid over my shoulders and I shivered. Had the temperature dropped? The snowstorm howled outside, wind whipping fast against the window. I hadn’t noticed how loud it had gotten until we were plunged into darkness and I was forced to rely more on touch and sound.

  Mistaking my shiver for one of fright rather than one of cold, Dex pulled me closer and rubbed my arms. “They’ll be back soon,” he promised.

  “I’m f-fine,” I assured him.

  “Shit!” There was a thunderous crash across the room and muted light was released into the room as the blinds were ripped away from the window. Dex and I looked up at the same time as Cody popped back up from the floor, having tripped over the leg of a chair—accidentally ripping the blinds from the window frame in his descent.

  I chuckled involuntarily.

  “You little minx!” Cody harrumphed angrily.

  That was it, I lost it. I laughed against Dex’s chest, my shoulders shaking and my eyes watering.

  “That was not funny,” Cody said.

  “Says you.” I reached up to wipe under my eyes. I shivered again and unintentionally burrowed closer to Dex.

  “Try checking your phone,” Dex suggested. I looked up and realized I must have been making him uncomfortable. Before I could pull away, though, his arms slipped around my back, rubbing smoothly.

  “Oh, right.” Cody fumbled across the table, looking for his phone. When he found it, half hidden under a stack of papers, he turned the screen on, illuminating his face. He blinked down at the screen. “I got an alert from the school,” he said. “I must’ve not noticed it because my phone was on silent while I was playing my game.” He grimaced as he read. “Says that the snowstorm knocked out the power and they’re trying to get someone out to fix everything, but it might not be until morning.”

  Dex sighed, his chest heaving against me. I glanced up at his face, shrouded in shadows. I bet if he looked at me with those deep, blue eyes would look just as beautiful up close as they did from a distance.

  “If I had to guess,” he replied, “I would say they have generators for the dorms and maybe even the student union.”

  “But they might not for the library?” I asked hesitantly.

  Dex looked down and much to my regret, I could barely make out the color of his eyes. “Likely not.” He shook his head.

  A realization struck me. “Without power, there’s no heat.”

  “Wait,” Cody lifted his head. “The doors to the library are automatic. They just put those in, didn’t they?”

  “They’ll open though, won’t they?” I asked.

  Dex nodded. “Yea, even in an emergency, those doors can be pulled open. There shouldn’t be any problem.”

  Cody glanced back down at his phone. “The snowstorm looks like it’s gotten worse since we drove over here,” he relayed. “The alert tells us to stay indoors and not to leave buildings unless absolutely necessary. The roads are probably covered in black ice by now.”

  “Shit,” Dex grumbled. “That’s dangerous.”

  I pulled away with a sigh and grabbed a chair, shivering. Cody turned his phone off and tossed it onto the table, grabbing a chair as well.

  “There’s no point in trying to call out for help,” he huffed. “We’ll probably have to wait until morning anyway.”

  Dex leaned a hip against the table in front of me and crossed his arms. My eyes narrowed on the stretch of fabric over his shoulders. He was always so studious, but I knew now there was some hard muscle beneath that fabric. It made my mouth water. Dex splayed his thighs so that I was between them and I tried everything I could not to let my gaze wander. I failed.

  “See something you like, Jamie?” Dex teased.

  Blushing hot and red, my eyes widened as I looked up his long body to his handsome face.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I was thankful that my even tone didn’t betray my wandering thoughts.

  Cody groaned and thumped his head back against his seat, drawing our attention. “This sucks,” he whined.

  I didn’t reply, but as my eyes flashed between them, I couldn’t agree or disagree. Stuck in the library with four hot guys for an undeterminable amount of time. It was going to be both heaven and hell on my mind and body.

  Dex shrugged in response. “Might as well take a study break anyway, right, Jamie?” Those dark, midnight eyes focused on me and my blush heated full force as I felt my thighs clench. Heaven and Hell.

  Chapter Three

  Floorboards creaked outside of the room several minutes later. A beam of light hit the doorframe as Darren and Taylor strode back through. All three of our heads—Cody, Dex, and mine—turned towards them.

  “What did you find?” Dex asked.

  “We can’t get to the breaker,” Darren replied. “Usually there’s someone here with the keys, but I was a replacement and I haven’t worked here long enough to get those yet.”

  Cody sucked in a breath. “Damn, that sucks. It’s supposed to get even colder tonight.”

  “Cody got an alert on his phone,” Dex informed them. “There’s no power anywhere but the dorms across campus. Snowstorm took it all out except for the major generators.”

  “So, what?” Taylor asked, moving around Darren and further into the room. “Do we just wait it out here, then?”

  I shrugged, realizing too late he probably couldn’t see me very well despite the uncovered window. “Pretty much,” I said. “It’s too dangerous to try and travel back to the dorms.”

  Taylor groaned before plopping down in a chair across from us as Darren pulled one around and sat down as well. I scooted closer to the table and propped my elbows on the surface, pushing away my books and laptop. I couldn’t even think about studying now.

  “What are we going to do until they can get to us?” I asked no one in particular.

  “What about a game of truth or dare?” Taylor piped up.

  I blanched. “Er…how about a game of truth
,” I offered instead. “It might be dangerous trying to do dares in the dark.”

  “Now isn’t that the name of an interesting party,” Darren mused. “Dares in the dark.”

  “Nah, Jamie’s right. It’s a fucking waste if I can’t even see you guys making a fool of yourselves,” Taylor laughed.

  “Us?” Cody replied. “Doubtful.”

  Taylor ignored him, and I watched as the outline of his face turned toward me. “Alright, Jamie, do you want to go first?”

  “Um…sure, I guess. Can I just ask anyone?”

  “Yea, asker’s choice.”

  I wracked my brain to think of anything interesting. “Dex,” I said. “Why’d you come to Winthrope?”

  “Such an innocent question,” Taylor teased.

  I ignored him and focused on Dex.

  “I actually got a football scholarship,” he admitted.

  My eyes widened in surprise. “But you don’t play.”

  He shook his head. “Nah, I had an injury early on in my freshman year that took me out and I decided to focus on my studies. I ended up getting an academic scholarship that helped me stay in school.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that so I just nodded. I had to admire how flexible he was. There was no bitterness in his tone when he talked about his injury, no bemoaning the fact that he couldn’t play football anymore. His maturity was stimulating.

  “Okay, Dex, since you were asked a question, you get to ask someone a question,” Taylor announced.

  Dex didn’t hesitate. “Jamie.” I jumped. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

  My cheeks flushed red. “N-no.” Before I could further explain or awkwardly chastise him for such an embarrassing question, Taylor told me it was my turn again. I turned to Cody this time.

  “Cody,” I said. “What’s your favorite color?”

  “Blue,” he replied without hesitation.